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Message from the Dean

Imagine a world where . . .

  • people everywhere have access to affordable, high-quality health care
  • children of all nationalities can count on clean air and sound nutrition
  • diseases like AIDS and malaria no longer threaten whole populations
  • workplace safety is a given
  • chronic diseases such as diabetes and arthritis are fully controlled

This is the world we are working to create.

As part of a vast research university known worldwide for its multidisciplinary scholarship and teaching, the University of Michigan School of Public Health is uniquely prepared to confront the complex challenges of our age. Through a crossroads of disciplines, ideas, and people, we are finding answers to today’s problems, and we are changing the future.

As a member of the UM SPH faculty for over 35 years, I have come to know the immense satisfaction—and indeed joy—that comes from working to improve the public’s health. In my own area of expertise, tobacco policy, I have seen remarkable changes. Smoking rates in the United States have dropped by more than half, and other countries are following suit. In 2003, the World Health Assembly unanimously adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, an unprecedented treaty aimed at curbing tobacco-related deaths and disease worldwide. As of October 2007, 151 countries have ratified the treaty.

This is but one example of how public health can help change the world for the better. For over a century, the University of Michigan has been producing leaders in public health. Today the School of Public Health continues to break new ground in areas as diverse as public health genetics, global health, reproductive and women’s health, health insurance, nanotechnology, virology, and the interrelationship of ethnicity, culture, and health.

It’s a thrilling time to be a part of this vital field. Our school is at the forefront of the discipline, facilitating interdisciplinary work through a wide range of research centers and initiatives, pursuing new discoveries through major research studies, forging dynamic relationships with partners in communities throughout the world.

Together with my colleagues in the school, I encourage you to bring your energy and passion to public health. Join us in finding solutions to the pressing health problems that confront us today. Become part of a community that is working to create a new and better world. Our future depends upon it.

Ken Warner
Dean, School of Public Health

About the Dean

Curriculum vitae for Kenneth E. Warner

Dean Warner is the Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor of Public Health and founding director of the UM Tobacco Research Network. Recently he served as the World Bank's representative to negotiations that led to the World Health Organization's health treaty, the unprecedented Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

He earned his A.B. degree summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1968 and M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University in 1970 and 1974, respectively. He came to UM in 1972 as a lecturer and rose to the rank of professor in 1983. He served as chair of the Department of Public Health Policy and Administration (precursor to the Department of Health Management and Policy) in 1982-1988 and again 1992-1995.

Warner has been a popular teacher in the school's Department of Health Management and Policy for more than three decades. His more than 200 professional publications have focused on economic and policy aspects of disease prevention and health promotion, with a special emphasis on tobacco and health.

Warner served as the senior scientific editor of the 25th anniversary U.S. Surgeon General's report on smoking and health, published in 1989. He is on the editorial boards of four professional journals and chairs the board of the international journal, Tobacco Control. He is a consultant to many governmental bodies, voluntary organizations, and businesses. Warner was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the American Legacy Foundation and served as the president of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco in 2004-05. He has testified several times before the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.